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Review: V.C. Andrews - Flowers in the Attic (1979)
I've always heard about this book being "the gothic incest book" and only now did I finally get around to reading it. I liked it. It didn't have the most satisfying ending, but I appreciated the book for what it was.
I think I may read the sequels or other books by V.C. Andrews, but probably not any of the books that were ghostwritten.
Spoilers.
Story
Corinne Dollanganger (nee Foxworth) fell in love with her half-uncle Christopher (Sr.). They eloped and had four children: Christopher Jr., Cathy, Cory, and Carrie (the latter of which are twins). They lived what seemed to be a perfect life.
Christopher Sr. died unexpectedly, and being out of ideas on how to raise her kids, Corinne returned home and had to make up with her parents, who had disowned her for eloping incestuously. Corinne told the kids that they would have to live in the attic until her father would forgive her and write her back into his will.
Days turned into years. The kids in the attic were abused and kept to a very strict religious regimen by their cold grandmother and their mother who slowly became more and more absent in their lives.
Due to a lack of other people in their lives, the kids formed their own family unit. Cory and Carrie began to recognize Cathy and Chris as their parents and later grew to see Corinne as a stranger. As for Cathy and Chris, they grew to have romantic and sexual feelings for each other as they went through puberty.
Cory and Carrie were hardly growing, and Cory became incredibly ill. Their mother took Cory to the hospital but told the kids that he died of pneumonia. That's when Cathy and Chris Jr. finally decided that they had to leave. They had been stealing money for a while, as a backup fund. Chris finally decided to do one last robbery, in hopes of nabbing any expensive jewellery that they could pawn.
On that one last robbery, Chris had discovered that their mother had left with her new husband for good (as none of her belongings were left in her room), and that their grandfather had been dead for a year.
Chris, Cathy, and Carrie successfully escaped from the house (Chris and Cathy had made a copy of the key - that was how they'd been conducting their robberies) without bumping into any servants. And they had just enough money to take some train and bus rides. As they were leaving on the train, they saw the grandmother up in their attic room, but deduced that she probably couldn't see that they were on the train.
On the train ride, Chris confided to Cathy that it was probably their mother that was poisoning them and not the grandmother, as the mother had the most to gain from their death. Her father had written in his will that she would not inherit any money if she had any children from any marriage.
Chris left the decision up to Cathy of whether they would go to the police, but Cathy ultimately decided against it.
I was satisfied that the kids got to escape, but I wasn't satisfid that Corinne and the grandmother didn't get justice. I wonder if we might see what happens to them in the sequels. The story did also technically end on a cliffhanger, as Cathy says that how they survived was another story entirely. Kind of a weak last sentence, to be honest.
Writing
I liked the writing. When I was reading the book, I read some comments from people who felt that Andrews' writing was too flowery, but I felt that it suited the situation, the gothic atmosphere.
Characters
Cathy Dollanganger
Our narrator. Cathy was one of the children locked up in the attic. Through her eyes, we saw how she and her siblings dealt with trauma and abuse, how they grew up and grew apart from their mother, how they learned to deal with betrayal.
Cathy was portrayed as always being a little more suspicious than Chris. When her mom was first having babies, she was hateful that the babies would take away attention, though she grew to love them dearly. And during the time in the attic, through her retrospective point of view, she showed that she was always more suspicious of Chris, though he was better at hiding it.
Cathy would generally let her emotions get the better of her, and Chris grounded her. For example, when she was upset and yelled at her mom for not doing anything to save Cory, her mother hit her and she hit her back. I'm guessing that there's kind of an Elektra complex here, as Chris was always portrayed as being in love with his mother while Cathy was always suspicious of her.
As Cathy and Chris went through puberty, they started noticing the changes in each other's bodies. They relied on each other a lot, because they didn't have anybody else to rely on in order to take care of themselves and the twins. They both knew that what they were doing was wrong, and at the beginning, they would always talk about their romantic preferences.
Despite that, their attraction to each other grew. They started kissing each other for comfort and affection. Chris did rape Cathy in jealousy after he learned that she kissed Bart, but Cathy claimed that she was okay with it. In this regard, I think it's the codependency talking. But that's natural. Cathy and Chris only ever had each other.
Cathy did seem to feel a bit insecure that Chris had only loved her because there were no other women around, but Chris assured her that he did love her for her. In my opinion, technically Cathy was right, but the fact of the matter was that Cathy and Chris gave each other much needed emotional support when they both needed it, and that was why they bonded.
Cathy was also insecure as she felt that Chris always considered Corinne a perfect woman, his ideal woman, and Cathy was just a cheap imitation of her. She always felt that she was coming in second to her own mother.
At the end, after the kids escaped, Chris gave Cathy the option of whether to go to the police. She decided not to, wanting to be rid of her mother once and for all. But she wouldn't forgive so easily.
Chris Dollanganger Jr.
Chris was the oldest brother of the kids, the know-it-all who was going to be a doctor. He always assured the kids that everything was going to be fine, that their mother always had them in their hearts. He didn't ever really quite convince Cathy though, as she was old enough to have her own thoughts.
When Cathy questioned him about how he could still love their mother, Chris said that he had no choice but to trust her. Chris was a lawful person, and he believed in the system. And so that was why tended to be more calm in situations when dealing with the adults, though he might not have been any less upset than Cathy was.
Chris also saw himself as the protector. He did always take the role of the dad, such as when he would sit on the rocking chair and have all of the others sit on his lap. He did rely emotionally on Cathy a lot, but he did try his best to keep them safe.
There were a couple of big revelations that were narrated to Cathy by him. I did think it was a bit of a copout to have those crucial pieces of information be revealed to us in that way, but it wasn't too bad, as I liked reading the relationship between Chris and Cathy.
It was interesting seeing Chris slowly side with Cathy. As mentioned, he told Cathy that he only believed in his mother because they had no other choice. But as the twins' started declining health, he understood that only they could help themselves. He agreed that they had to leave and if they were going to be poor and unable to survive in the wilderness, at least they'd be free.
When on the train, Chris revealed to Cathy that he thought it was probably their mother who had come up with the idea of poisoning them with arsenic. It was a difficult thought for him because, as noted, he was kind of in love with her (had a bit of an Orpheus complex as a counterpart to Cathy's Elektra complex). It must have taken him a lot of time and energy to accept that the woman he thought was perfect no longer was.
Chris had agreed to run away after Cory had died, but it was his last trip that gave us all of the crucial details about how conniving their mom and grandma were. Again, a bit of a copout, but eh.
Cory Dollanganger
Cory was one of the twins. He was always more introverted and quiet. He liked playing music, and he'd kept a pet mouse, Mickey. As he loved donuts, he had undergone heavy arsenic poisoning by his own mother, and eventually died. Corinne had said that the doctors said he'd died of pneumonia, but Chris said that the effects of long term arsenic poisoning were very similar to pneumonia; in other words, Corinne was trying to cover up her tracks.
Carrie Dollanganger
Carrie was the more extroverted and opiniated of the twins. When they first arrived at the attic, Carrie was very loud about hating where they were, and Chris and Cathy spent a lot of time trying to calm her down.
Carrie and Cory were very protective of each other, which we especially saw when either of them were being abused by the grandmother.
Carrie and Cory also came to see Cathy and Chris as their parents. Cory actually called Cathy "momma" sometimes, and would call Corinne, his actual mother, "ma'am."
By the end of the book, Carrie was extremely ill, also having undergone the poisoning. But the ending was hopeful for her. Cathy told Carrie that they were going to go someplace nice, and Carrie smiled.
Corinne Dollanganger nee Foxworth
Corinne was the mother of the four Dollanganger children. At the beginning, we were led to believe that she was the perfect mother, the perfect wife, in a perfect family. She was blonde and beautiful, and married to a tall and handsome man.
After Chris Sr. died unexpectedly, she was forced to carry the burden. That was when Cathy discovered that they were living unsustainably, that her mother always had expensive habits. She returned to the last place she wanted to go, which was back to her parents. Her plan was to get back into her parents' good books to get the inheritance and then bring the kids into the picture. We found out later from Chris Jr. that she had gotten her name in the inheritance on the condition that she never had kids, and so she'd made the decision nine months prior to the kids' escape that she would poison them to death. Chris deduced that that was their mother's decision and not the grandmother's decision.
Corinne grew up in an extremely strict Christian household. Her mother wouldn't even let her play with a dollhouse until her father allowed her on the condition that she didn't break anything, which she did and was punished for it. This was why Corinne was so reluctant to return home.
The story of Corinne and Chris Sr.'s romance did mirror Cathy and Chris Jr.'s a bit. They were stifled in an environment devoid of love, and they only had each other. However, by the end of the book, Corinne had completely forgotten her love for Chris Sr. Now she had money, and she had a young handsome husband that she wasn't related to. Cathy had mused about what it would take for a woman to turn her back on her children like that, which in this case was riches.
Her story really was tragic, how she fell from being the kind of woman who would sin for love, to the woman who would give up love of her own children for herself.
Christopher Dollanganger Sr.
Chris Sr. was Corinne's half uncle, Malcolm's half brother by his father's new wife. Malcolm had done everything he could to strip Chris Sr. of his inheritance and he'd successfully done so. However, he was brought back into their care when his mom died.
Corinne admitted that Malcolm and Olivia did at least give Chris Sr. an education, sending him to university. But he was still subject to the very strict upbringing that Corinne was.
Corinne said that it was love at first sight for both she and Chris Sr. I don't doubt that. They were kindred spirits in a cruel world. Corinne was in a terribly abusive environment, and Chris Sr. had been struggling terribly out in the world, having his rightful inheritance taken away from him.
What we knew of Chris Sr. was through Cathy's eyes at the beginning of the book. He was a very kind father, but his death was untimely. But because he died so early on, he didn't live long enough to become the villain in his children's eyes like their mother did.
Olivia Foxworth nee Winfield
Olivia was the children's grandmother. She was extremely religious and subject the kids to a very religious and modest upbringing. This was compounded by the fact that her own daughter had committed incest, and she would do everything to prevent that from happening.
Chris Jr. had convinced the other kids to make a gift for their grandmother. She hadn't accepted their peace offering, and Cathy was enraged. I think that was the point of no return, after which Cathy refused to extend any good will to their grandmother.
The grandmother was the main doler of punishments, though it was mostly because we didn't know until later on that the kids' mother was abusive. For instance, the grandmother had punished the kids after Chris Jr. had caught Cathy naked and refused to cut off her hair. She's poured tar into Cathy's hair and then didn't bring them food for two weeks.
That being said, Chris Jr. deduced that the grandmother was not responsible for the poisoning. When the kids got onto the train, they saw their grandmother in their attic, which surprised them because they didn't think their grandmother ever went up there that early. Either she did normally go up there that early and the kids hadn't noticed (as there was a scene near the end when the grandmother was in their room without them knowing). I really would have loved more detail on the grandma and how she looked like she was feeling at that time, but alas, it wouldn't be realistic as the kids were already so far.
Malcolm Foxworth
Malcolm was the grandfather that Corinne needed to please. We only saw of him once in the entire book, at the Christmas party. However, his reputation preceded him. He was portrayed to be just as strict as his wife.
It was revealed that he originally had two sons who were older than Corinne. I forgot how the eldest died, but I think the second brother was not being able to handle the burden of being the next heir and committed suicide, leaving Corinne. Malcolm was portrayed as not loving Corinne, but valuing her like a precious possession.
He'd disowned Corinne after she ran away with her half uncle. And when she returned, he only added her back to his inheritance on the condition that she had no children, even with future husbands, which is very strange. But I guess he already saw his daughter as a spawn of the devil, an ultimate sinner, and he didn't trust her not to sin further.
Per Chris Jr.'s deduction, he would have died a year before they'd escaped, but Corinne and Olivia had kept that a secret.
Bartholomew Winslow
Bart was Malcolm's attorney, and Corinne's new husband. The first time the kids saw him was at the Christmas party. Corinne had gotten married without telling the kids, and obviously she hadn't told her husband that she had kids.
One time, when it was Cathy's turn to steal money from her mother's room, she happened upon Bart sleeping in the room. She'd kissed him out of curiosity. After all, she hadn't seen another man for years.
Bart later told Corinne about his "dream" of being kissed by a young girl, which Chris Jr. heard about. That probably alerted Corinne to the fact that the kids were sneaking out of their room. And Chris Jr. became enraged that Corinne had given her affection to another male person and raped her.
At the end of the book, it was implied that Corinne and Bart had moved away, as their entire room was cleaned of all of their possession, so the kids couldn't even steal any jewellery to pawn off later.
Themes
One of the bigger themes of this book would be how codependency can be bred from a dire situation. Chris Sr. and Corinne fell in love because they lived in such an oppressive home environment. And Chris Jr. and Cathy fell in love in very similar circumstances. It wasn't right or wrong, they had no choice.
In a similar vein, Cory and Carrie began to see Chris Jr. and Cathy as their parents in lieu of their actual mother who neglected them.
The other theme I thought worth exploring was Cathy's musing at the end, how Corinne was convinced to abandon her children and the love that she sinned for for a comfortable life. When she ran away with Chris Sr., they presumably had nothing. Chris Sr. had a university education, but he couldn't use it because his degree was under the name Foxworth, and he had to start from nothing. And slowly he had built up a life until he could give Corinne that luxurious life she'd always wanted. And after Chris Sr.'s death, she learned to love that life over her own children. Very tragic and sad.
I have read a couple of incest books in relatively close proximity. And I think the part about incest that I think is interesting (in fiction, not in real life ew) is the codependency and where it comes from, and who it happens to.
Overall
I did enjoy this book a lot. I thought it was written in a way that was thrilling and interesting and easy to follow. I am interested to know what happens to Chris Jr. and Corinne in the future.
I think I may read the sequels or other books by V.C. Andrews, but probably not any of the books that were ghostwritten.
Spoilers.
Story
Corinne Dollanganger (nee Foxworth) fell in love with her half-uncle Christopher (Sr.). They eloped and had four children: Christopher Jr., Cathy, Cory, and Carrie (the latter of which are twins). They lived what seemed to be a perfect life.
Christopher Sr. died unexpectedly, and being out of ideas on how to raise her kids, Corinne returned home and had to make up with her parents, who had disowned her for eloping incestuously. Corinne told the kids that they would have to live in the attic until her father would forgive her and write her back into his will.
Days turned into years. The kids in the attic were abused and kept to a very strict religious regimen by their cold grandmother and their mother who slowly became more and more absent in their lives.
Due to a lack of other people in their lives, the kids formed their own family unit. Cory and Carrie began to recognize Cathy and Chris as their parents and later grew to see Corinne as a stranger. As for Cathy and Chris, they grew to have romantic and sexual feelings for each other as they went through puberty.
Cory and Carrie were hardly growing, and Cory became incredibly ill. Their mother took Cory to the hospital but told the kids that he died of pneumonia. That's when Cathy and Chris Jr. finally decided that they had to leave. They had been stealing money for a while, as a backup fund. Chris finally decided to do one last robbery, in hopes of nabbing any expensive jewellery that they could pawn.
On that one last robbery, Chris had discovered that their mother had left with her new husband for good (as none of her belongings were left in her room), and that their grandfather had been dead for a year.
Chris, Cathy, and Carrie successfully escaped from the house (Chris and Cathy had made a copy of the key - that was how they'd been conducting their robberies) without bumping into any servants. And they had just enough money to take some train and bus rides. As they were leaving on the train, they saw the grandmother up in their attic room, but deduced that she probably couldn't see that they were on the train.
On the train ride, Chris confided to Cathy that it was probably their mother that was poisoning them and not the grandmother, as the mother had the most to gain from their death. Her father had written in his will that she would not inherit any money if she had any children from any marriage.
Chris left the decision up to Cathy of whether they would go to the police, but Cathy ultimately decided against it.
I was satisfied that the kids got to escape, but I wasn't satisfid that Corinne and the grandmother didn't get justice. I wonder if we might see what happens to them in the sequels. The story did also technically end on a cliffhanger, as Cathy says that how they survived was another story entirely. Kind of a weak last sentence, to be honest.
Writing
I liked the writing. When I was reading the book, I read some comments from people who felt that Andrews' writing was too flowery, but I felt that it suited the situation, the gothic atmosphere.
Characters
Cathy Dollanganger
Our narrator. Cathy was one of the children locked up in the attic. Through her eyes, we saw how she and her siblings dealt with trauma and abuse, how they grew up and grew apart from their mother, how they learned to deal with betrayal.
Cathy was portrayed as always being a little more suspicious than Chris. When her mom was first having babies, she was hateful that the babies would take away attention, though she grew to love them dearly. And during the time in the attic, through her retrospective point of view, she showed that she was always more suspicious of Chris, though he was better at hiding it.
Cathy would generally let her emotions get the better of her, and Chris grounded her. For example, when she was upset and yelled at her mom for not doing anything to save Cory, her mother hit her and she hit her back. I'm guessing that there's kind of an Elektra complex here, as Chris was always portrayed as being in love with his mother while Cathy was always suspicious of her.
As Cathy and Chris went through puberty, they started noticing the changes in each other's bodies. They relied on each other a lot, because they didn't have anybody else to rely on in order to take care of themselves and the twins. They both knew that what they were doing was wrong, and at the beginning, they would always talk about their romantic preferences.
Despite that, their attraction to each other grew. They started kissing each other for comfort and affection. Chris did rape Cathy in jealousy after he learned that she kissed Bart, but Cathy claimed that she was okay with it. In this regard, I think it's the codependency talking. But that's natural. Cathy and Chris only ever had each other.
Cathy did seem to feel a bit insecure that Chris had only loved her because there were no other women around, but Chris assured her that he did love her for her. In my opinion, technically Cathy was right, but the fact of the matter was that Cathy and Chris gave each other much needed emotional support when they both needed it, and that was why they bonded.
Cathy was also insecure as she felt that Chris always considered Corinne a perfect woman, his ideal woman, and Cathy was just a cheap imitation of her. She always felt that she was coming in second to her own mother.
At the end, after the kids escaped, Chris gave Cathy the option of whether to go to the police. She decided not to, wanting to be rid of her mother once and for all. But she wouldn't forgive so easily.
Chris Dollanganger Jr.
Chris was the oldest brother of the kids, the know-it-all who was going to be a doctor. He always assured the kids that everything was going to be fine, that their mother always had them in their hearts. He didn't ever really quite convince Cathy though, as she was old enough to have her own thoughts.
When Cathy questioned him about how he could still love their mother, Chris said that he had no choice but to trust her. Chris was a lawful person, and he believed in the system. And so that was why tended to be more calm in situations when dealing with the adults, though he might not have been any less upset than Cathy was.
Chris also saw himself as the protector. He did always take the role of the dad, such as when he would sit on the rocking chair and have all of the others sit on his lap. He did rely emotionally on Cathy a lot, but he did try his best to keep them safe.
There were a couple of big revelations that were narrated to Cathy by him. I did think it was a bit of a copout to have those crucial pieces of information be revealed to us in that way, but it wasn't too bad, as I liked reading the relationship between Chris and Cathy.
It was interesting seeing Chris slowly side with Cathy. As mentioned, he told Cathy that he only believed in his mother because they had no other choice. But as the twins' started declining health, he understood that only they could help themselves. He agreed that they had to leave and if they were going to be poor and unable to survive in the wilderness, at least they'd be free.
When on the train, Chris revealed to Cathy that he thought it was probably their mother who had come up with the idea of poisoning them with arsenic. It was a difficult thought for him because, as noted, he was kind of in love with her (had a bit of an Orpheus complex as a counterpart to Cathy's Elektra complex). It must have taken him a lot of time and energy to accept that the woman he thought was perfect no longer was.
Chris had agreed to run away after Cory had died, but it was his last trip that gave us all of the crucial details about how conniving their mom and grandma were. Again, a bit of a copout, but eh.
Cory Dollanganger
Cory was one of the twins. He was always more introverted and quiet. He liked playing music, and he'd kept a pet mouse, Mickey. As he loved donuts, he had undergone heavy arsenic poisoning by his own mother, and eventually died. Corinne had said that the doctors said he'd died of pneumonia, but Chris said that the effects of long term arsenic poisoning were very similar to pneumonia; in other words, Corinne was trying to cover up her tracks.
Carrie Dollanganger
Carrie was the more extroverted and opiniated of the twins. When they first arrived at the attic, Carrie was very loud about hating where they were, and Chris and Cathy spent a lot of time trying to calm her down.
Carrie and Cory were very protective of each other, which we especially saw when either of them were being abused by the grandmother.
Carrie and Cory also came to see Cathy and Chris as their parents. Cory actually called Cathy "momma" sometimes, and would call Corinne, his actual mother, "ma'am."
By the end of the book, Carrie was extremely ill, also having undergone the poisoning. But the ending was hopeful for her. Cathy told Carrie that they were going to go someplace nice, and Carrie smiled.
Corinne Dollanganger nee Foxworth
Corinne was the mother of the four Dollanganger children. At the beginning, we were led to believe that she was the perfect mother, the perfect wife, in a perfect family. She was blonde and beautiful, and married to a tall and handsome man.
After Chris Sr. died unexpectedly, she was forced to carry the burden. That was when Cathy discovered that they were living unsustainably, that her mother always had expensive habits. She returned to the last place she wanted to go, which was back to her parents. Her plan was to get back into her parents' good books to get the inheritance and then bring the kids into the picture. We found out later from Chris Jr. that she had gotten her name in the inheritance on the condition that she never had kids, and so she'd made the decision nine months prior to the kids' escape that she would poison them to death. Chris deduced that that was their mother's decision and not the grandmother's decision.
Corinne grew up in an extremely strict Christian household. Her mother wouldn't even let her play with a dollhouse until her father allowed her on the condition that she didn't break anything, which she did and was punished for it. This was why Corinne was so reluctant to return home.
The story of Corinne and Chris Sr.'s romance did mirror Cathy and Chris Jr.'s a bit. They were stifled in an environment devoid of love, and they only had each other. However, by the end of the book, Corinne had completely forgotten her love for Chris Sr. Now she had money, and she had a young handsome husband that she wasn't related to. Cathy had mused about what it would take for a woman to turn her back on her children like that, which in this case was riches.
Her story really was tragic, how she fell from being the kind of woman who would sin for love, to the woman who would give up love of her own children for herself.
Christopher Dollanganger Sr.
Chris Sr. was Corinne's half uncle, Malcolm's half brother by his father's new wife. Malcolm had done everything he could to strip Chris Sr. of his inheritance and he'd successfully done so. However, he was brought back into their care when his mom died.
Corinne admitted that Malcolm and Olivia did at least give Chris Sr. an education, sending him to university. But he was still subject to the very strict upbringing that Corinne was.
Corinne said that it was love at first sight for both she and Chris Sr. I don't doubt that. They were kindred spirits in a cruel world. Corinne was in a terribly abusive environment, and Chris Sr. had been struggling terribly out in the world, having his rightful inheritance taken away from him.
What we knew of Chris Sr. was through Cathy's eyes at the beginning of the book. He was a very kind father, but his death was untimely. But because he died so early on, he didn't live long enough to become the villain in his children's eyes like their mother did.
Olivia Foxworth nee Winfield
Olivia was the children's grandmother. She was extremely religious and subject the kids to a very religious and modest upbringing. This was compounded by the fact that her own daughter had committed incest, and she would do everything to prevent that from happening.
Chris Jr. had convinced the other kids to make a gift for their grandmother. She hadn't accepted their peace offering, and Cathy was enraged. I think that was the point of no return, after which Cathy refused to extend any good will to their grandmother.
The grandmother was the main doler of punishments, though it was mostly because we didn't know until later on that the kids' mother was abusive. For instance, the grandmother had punished the kids after Chris Jr. had caught Cathy naked and refused to cut off her hair. She's poured tar into Cathy's hair and then didn't bring them food for two weeks.
That being said, Chris Jr. deduced that the grandmother was not responsible for the poisoning. When the kids got onto the train, they saw their grandmother in their attic, which surprised them because they didn't think their grandmother ever went up there that early. Either she did normally go up there that early and the kids hadn't noticed (as there was a scene near the end when the grandmother was in their room without them knowing). I really would have loved more detail on the grandma and how she looked like she was feeling at that time, but alas, it wouldn't be realistic as the kids were already so far.
Malcolm Foxworth
Malcolm was the grandfather that Corinne needed to please. We only saw of him once in the entire book, at the Christmas party. However, his reputation preceded him. He was portrayed to be just as strict as his wife.
It was revealed that he originally had two sons who were older than Corinne. I forgot how the eldest died, but I think the second brother was not being able to handle the burden of being the next heir and committed suicide, leaving Corinne. Malcolm was portrayed as not loving Corinne, but valuing her like a precious possession.
He'd disowned Corinne after she ran away with her half uncle. And when she returned, he only added her back to his inheritance on the condition that she had no children, even with future husbands, which is very strange. But I guess he already saw his daughter as a spawn of the devil, an ultimate sinner, and he didn't trust her not to sin further.
Per Chris Jr.'s deduction, he would have died a year before they'd escaped, but Corinne and Olivia had kept that a secret.
Bartholomew Winslow
Bart was Malcolm's attorney, and Corinne's new husband. The first time the kids saw him was at the Christmas party. Corinne had gotten married without telling the kids, and obviously she hadn't told her husband that she had kids.
One time, when it was Cathy's turn to steal money from her mother's room, she happened upon Bart sleeping in the room. She'd kissed him out of curiosity. After all, she hadn't seen another man for years.
Bart later told Corinne about his "dream" of being kissed by a young girl, which Chris Jr. heard about. That probably alerted Corinne to the fact that the kids were sneaking out of their room. And Chris Jr. became enraged that Corinne had given her affection to another male person and raped her.
At the end of the book, it was implied that Corinne and Bart had moved away, as their entire room was cleaned of all of their possession, so the kids couldn't even steal any jewellery to pawn off later.
Themes
One of the bigger themes of this book would be how codependency can be bred from a dire situation. Chris Sr. and Corinne fell in love because they lived in such an oppressive home environment. And Chris Jr. and Cathy fell in love in very similar circumstances. It wasn't right or wrong, they had no choice.
In a similar vein, Cory and Carrie began to see Chris Jr. and Cathy as their parents in lieu of their actual mother who neglected them.
The other theme I thought worth exploring was Cathy's musing at the end, how Corinne was convinced to abandon her children and the love that she sinned for for a comfortable life. When she ran away with Chris Sr., they presumably had nothing. Chris Sr. had a university education, but he couldn't use it because his degree was under the name Foxworth, and he had to start from nothing. And slowly he had built up a life until he could give Corinne that luxurious life she'd always wanted. And after Chris Sr.'s death, she learned to love that life over her own children. Very tragic and sad.
I have read a couple of incest books in relatively close proximity. And I think the part about incest that I think is interesting (in fiction, not in real life ew) is the codependency and where it comes from, and who it happens to.
Overall
I did enjoy this book a lot. I thought it was written in a way that was thrilling and interesting and easy to follow. I am interested to know what happens to Chris Jr. and Corinne in the future.